As the tower pulsed with light and lux, the sky above lit up. Rippling colors shot through. Chang-li and his friends stood with their faces upraised in awe. Chang-li was seeing with more than just his eyes. "It's Lumos," he said in wonder. "Lumos streaming in through the tower and being broken down.”

  “Like what we saw the prisms do at Varden City," Min guessed.

  He could sense her cycling beside him, opening herself up to the bounties of lux, replenishing her core.

  Behind him, the Morning Mist disciples arranged themselves in rows and began cycling. He was proud of their self-control. They had just fought an opponent terrifyingly powerful, who could have killed them in a second. And yet, instead of collapsing into hysterics or running, they were facing this like cultivators. You never know when your next challenge might come, and it was best to face it with a core full of lux.

  He himself embraced the lux as well, and with it came a trickle of Lumos. He was careful not to touch that. He needed to study very carefully before he let himself do anything with Lumos. Not only was it illegal to do without Imperial permission, he had no idea what he was doing and had a feeling it wasn't something to mess with lightly.

  He noted Min's cycling strength, and turned to her. "You’re close to the Peak of Spiritual Refinement."

  Min blushed. "I almost thought I’d made it,” she mumbled. "When we were preparing to face the Inquisitor, something felt different. It's been such a short time since the Peak of Mental Refinement, but I thought it possible."

  "With the sort of intense cycling and cultivation we've been doing, it's no surprise," Joshi said. "You've been exposed to far more lux than the average cultivator."

  “Don’t rush,” Chang-li cautioned her. “The Peak is important, but you want to focus on your foundations.”

  Min's face was joyful. She shook her head. "Still, I never dreamed I’d come this far. I’m a real cultivator, now.”

  "Your Intent is solid, then?" Chang-li asked.

  Min laughed. "You look like a nervous mother hen," she told him. "Yes, I'm finally starting to see how I can be everything that I want to be. It helped me in that battle." She looked like there was more to say, but Chang-li decided not to press her on it. They'd save it for later.

  "Someone's coming," Hiroko said, pointing toward the tower. Chang-li sensed it too. Three powerful beings. Hiroko smiled. "One of them’s my father."

  In a moment, three cultivators flashed down from the sky to land lightly in front of Chang-li and the Morning Mist. He recognized Grandmaster Noren at once.

  "Grandmaster," he said hurriedly, and the sect all shifted their cycling positions to bow, heads pressed to the dirt. "You’ve returned." He bowed deeply from the waist.

  Noren beamed at them, “Rise, please. You have handled yourselves admirably," Noren said, looking around. "All of you. I take it Yoonji will no longer be bothering us. Hmm. Well, I hope you have a good explanation to give the Inquisition for why you attacked and killed one of their number. They likely won’t believe it was you, of course. I’ll take the blame." He rubbed his beard. "Well, I’ll have to think of a convincing story."

  Along with Noren stood General Li and, to Chang-li’s shock, Sun Wukong. The freed trickster gave him a polite nod. "Greetings, Cultivator Wu. I appreciate you sending allies to help me finish my escape from that tower."

  "You used me," Chang-li said bluntly. "I might have died."

  "But you didn’t," Sun Wukong said, "and you are now much more than you were half a day ago. Congratulations!"

  General Li looked tired and sad. Hiroko hurried forward. She reached her hands out to him, then let them fall, bowing her head. "Father! I’m... that is…"

  He stepped forward and put his arms around her, drawing her close. Chang-li averted his eyes. Min gave a sigh. Joshi was looking uncomfortable. The general stepped back and looked at Hiroko, speaking directly to her. "Your mother will have to wait just a bit longer."

  "What about Eri, is she dead?"

  Sun Wukong shook his head. "No, though I’m guessing she’s not particularly happy about where she’s found herself. She has ascended. Unfortunately for her, the quality of the power in this tower means she has no doubt found herself in one of the Heavens’ more unpleasant regions, and it will take her a significant amount of time to make her way to any sort of seat of power. In addition, she didn’t have her sect with her. So, you could say she has found herself in the next realm as a pauper in a very bad neighborhood."

  "I don’t understand," Chang-li began.

  Sun waved a hand. "Take some time to read that treatise I left you, and I think you’ll understand plenty."

  “Now,” he turned to the general. "As I intimated before, I believe we have common cause. You, like I, wish to return to the heavens in something more stylish fashion than what we just gave our friend."

  “I suggest you leave quickly," Noren said. "The Emperor will have noticed this tower’s activation and doubtless be here to see for himself if you don’t care to tender your resignation in person."

  The general looked grim. "Come with me," he said to Hiroko.

  Her eyes widened. "Go where?"

  "Beyond the Empire. Our quest will take some time, no doubt, but we will find a source of power sufficient to take us to the heavens. I would rather not leave you behind."

  Hiroko hesitated. She looked from her father to Joshi, then to Chang. Min squeezed Chang-li’s arm. He wasn’t sure what message he was supposed to get there. Should he be asking Hiroko to stay? That seemed like it was more Joshi’s role, but the bald barbarian wasn’t saying anything.

  Min sighed. She let her hand fall away from Chang-li and took a step forward, reaching out toward Hiroko. "You will always have a place at Morning Mist, if you wish it," she said.

  "Is that true?" Hiroko asked. She was definitely looking at Joshi now.

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  Joshi met her gaze, then the general’s. He strode over to Hiroko. "I don’t know what future we can offer you," he said. "Not sure what the position of her sect will be here."

  "That’s a great question," Noren said. "I think we’ll figure that out very soon. But, uh, yes, the Emperor is definitely on his way, so we should hurry this along." He made a gesture.

  "Stay with me," Joshi said.

  Hiroko’s eyes widened. Her breath caught. She lifted a hand toward Joshi, looked at her father, then back to Joshi.

  He held out his hand. "Stay with me, and we’ll face whatever unknown future there is together."

  Hiroko looked between them. Then she threw her arms around her father’s neck and held him tight. "Tell Mother I love her, and I look forward to meeting her myself some day," she said. "When I’ve made my own path to the Heavens."

  She stepped back. As Joshi came forward, she placed her hand in his. The general reached out and put his own hands over their pair of clasped ones.

  "Go with my blessing, my daughter," he said. Then to Joshi, "And may you strive to be worthy of her."

  "Always," Joshi promised.

  The general turned to Wukong. "We have much to discuss, but we may as well do it as we flee for our lives."

  "An excellent suggestion," Sun said, and a moment later both men leapt skyward. Their presences diminished at once. Chang-li could no longer sense them. He guessed Sun was masking them both.

  Noren brought his gaze back down from the sky to rest with his disciples. "Well, now that that’s handled, we should discuss our next move. I have, fortunately, fulfilled my soul oath to the Emperor. That may or may not make up for killing his agent."

  "She was a traitor," Chang-li said. "Her own Intent defeated her."

  "I suspected as much," Noren told them. He looked around at the war camp. The Darwur were milling about, looking uncomfortable.

  Noren called out, “Khan Temaj, I suggest you and your warriors rejoin the rest of your people quickly. Things are going to be very different, and it’s always best to avoid interviews with the Emperor when you're not prepared for them."

  Temaj nodded grimly. "I think that is excellent advice. Brother, you and your woman are welcome at our fires any time. I am satisfied with the vengeance we have taken on those who arranged for our father’s murder."

  "Yes, excellent," Noren said. "Now go, quickly." He waved, and the Darwur retreated.

  "Good," Noren said. He turned to the sect. "You will all have a handful of minutes to make yourselves presentable before the Emperor arrives. He will likely take no notice of you, unless he decides to strike the entire sect dead in one blow. I suggest you prepare yourself for either eventuality."

  Chang-li shifted uncomfortably, looking at Min. Was that really the best they could do? Cower or die?

  The heavens above continued their light show. Chang-li could feel the traces of Lumos in him. He longed to start experimenting with them. No. Not yet. He had so much to record. Everything that had happened in the past few days, how he had reached the Lux Embodiment stage. So much knowledge in his head that he needed to get down.

  Hopefully, if they survived this upcoming interview, he’d find some peace and quiet to write it. Even now the minutes went by, each stretching out longer than the next.

  "Well, perhaps I was mistaken on my estimate of his arrival," Noren said. "I was certain this would attract—"

  The sky split open. The colored lights rippling overhead were torn like a curtain being thrown back. A golden glow appeared, shining so bright, Chang-li was blinded. The glow condensed into the shape of a man, and mere moments later, the Emperor stepped out into the ruined war camp.

  Chang-li and all the rest of Morning Mist fell to their knees. Chang-li pressed his forehead and hands to the ground in obeisance.

  Noren bowed low, but remained on his feet.

  It hurt to look at him, but his presence quickly dimmed to something approaching human. Chang-li didn’t need his eyes to watch the scene anymore, not with his enhanced senses, though he did still prefer to use them whenever possible. The Emperor flicked his gaze over the surroundings, then focused on Noren.

  "Grandmaster Kang. You may report to me."

  Chang-li was shocked at hearing the use of Noren’s original name. The Emperor truly did know everything. He tried very hard not to think of the seed of a weapon resting even now in his soul space, the thing Sun Wukong had given him. If it could do what Sun claimed, then even possessing it would likely mark him for death should the Emperor ever learn of it.

  Noren bowed again. He held up an artifact balanced on the palms of his hands. It was a bare coil of metal, something like a snail pounded flat into a disc.

  The Emperor reached and took it. "This is an interesting and dangerous toy," he said quietly.

  "I took it from Prism Eri before my allies and I banished her to the outer realms of heaven," Noren said casually. "This was after defeating most of the senior members of her sect. Golden Locks is no more, Your Majesty."

  The Emperor held up the artifact. "She thought to charge this and use it against me." He raised an eyebrow. "That arrogant woman. She had no respect for what I had given her." He paused. "It wouldn’t have worked," he added.

  Chang-li wondered if he was lying for the audience. The thought felt traitorous, and then, to his shock, Chang-li realized he was thinking of the Emperor like an ordinary human being. Someone who would lie for gain. The only reason the Emperor would say such outright lies was if he feared someone here might make use of that knowledge.

  Does that mean the Emperor feared Noren? Surely not.

  But Chang-li had just spent the last few weeks proving that a lower-ranked cultivator could defeat one of a higher ranking. Perhaps even the Emperor feared that.

  The artifact vanished. "I am grateful for your service," the Emperor told Noren, "and I hold your oath fulfilled."

  Noren bowed so low his torso was parallel to the ground. "Your acceptance is all I ever asked," he said.

  "However, you have allowed a tower I was leaving fallow to activate. That is its own kind of problem."

  "I’m sorry for that," Noren said. "It was truly out of my control. I understand the timing is terrible for you, though, to have this weakness in your border defenses created just as you’ve lost... what is it? Three prisms?"

  "Four," the Emperor said briefly. "Prism Nai Lin has chosen to ascend."

  His voice was cold with what sounded like controlled fury. Chang-li wondered what had happened there. Four prisms gone. That was more than had died in the previous Prism Wars, and yet it seemed possible that this conflict had been less devastating to the Empire than the previous wars. He had been present at two of those four prisms’ ends, and the casualties to innocents had been kept to a minimum.

  "Four," Noren mused, "and with the likely candidates no doubt suspect for their ties to those fallen prisms."

  The Emperor watched with a steely eye as Noren trailed off. At last he spoke. "I will invoke the Rite of the Firstborn," he said.

  “In which all existing charter sects will be permitted to have their senior cultivator demonstrate his qualifications for Prism?" Noren asked.

  The Emperor barely dipped his chin. "Yes."

  Noren pressed his hands together and bowed, much less low this time. "Then how very fortunate for me that Morning Mist has been restored to our Charter Sect status."

  "Indeed," the Emperor said, his eyes fixed on Noren. "You and your people will present yourselves at the capital in three months’ time to begin. Oh,” he said, as if thinking of it, "no doubt the Inquisition will wish to speak to you about Inquisitor Pak’s death. As any Inquisitor who cannot keep herself alive in the course of carrying out her duties has failed me, their questioning will be superficial. I will not permit them to torture any members of your sect unless proof is found of treason elsewhere. However, I expect you to submit to their formalities as well as those of the bureaucracy. Order must be maintained. Now, I have other duties to see to. The borders will need to be protected. You have taken enough of my time."

  And with that, the Emperor was gone.

  Chang-li was shaking so much that even as Noren turned, clapped his hands and said, "All right, everyone get to your feet. We have a lot of work to do," he found it was all he could do to raise himself to a kneeling position. Min was shivering beside him. Most of the other disciples couldn’t even manage that much.

  Noren sighed. "Yes, it’s always intimidating to have an audience with divinity. But that could have gone so much worse, don’t you think?" he remarked. "All in all, I think we made an excellent showing."

  Joshi was on his feet, and seeing his friend gave Chang-li the effort he needed to spur himself upward. He helped Min up.

  "What does he mean, charter sect?" Joshi asked. "What is he talking about?"

  Noren smiled. "We will be discussing that and a great deal more on our journey back to our headquarters. Three months is not nearly enough time. But rest assured, there’s going to be plenty of opportunity and work to go around. I can’t wait to tell you all about it."